PAN's global tribunal got Dow's attention

Recently released emails reveal that Dow Chemical Co., one of the Big 6 pesticide corporations on trial in December's landmark Permanent People's Tribunal, was watching the tribunal very closely.

WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files earlier this week, a release including over five million emails from Stratfor, a company that "provides intelligence services to large corporations." The emails reveal at least half a dozen separate mentions of the tribunal during November and December of last year.

Although PAN's human rights tribunal wasn't legally binding, it was a rigorous public trial. It gave a platform for powerful stories from people across the globe whose health and livelihoods have been damaged by pesticide corporations' products. A jury of esteemed human rights experts delivered a strong verdict urging governments around the world to take action to prevent further harm.

As PAN's Heather Pilatic wrote in her analysis of the tribunal, "Sometimes you just have to name the problem and go after it." Through the tribunal, PAN named the Big 6 — Dow, Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, DuPont and Syngenta — as the problem. Stay tuned to our Pesticide Industry on Trial campaign page as our global network continues to "go after" this entrenched and powerful problem, demanding accountability and safer alternatives.